plunged into darkness as israel pounds gaza again in the body count rising with more deaths and injuries among children. truce remains elusive where the palestinians are accusing israel of stalling the cease fire. and as the u.s. pledges to work for calm between the warring sides we'll look at why washington show sympathy for innocent civilians being killed in some parts of the middle east by not so much in others. this is r.t. coming to you live from moscow one pm here on marina joshie israel's bombardment of

gaza has intensified overnight despite talk of a pending cease fire the number of palestinians killed in the weeklong offensive now exceeds one hundred forty was more than a thousand people want it just take a look at how the tragedy in gaza has unfolded in recent days but be aware that these images are upsetting. israeli bombs hitting residential district and killing civilians are daily reality

in gaza those trying to report the conflict to the outside world are also being bombarded as journalist harry fear explains from within gaza. israel has intensified the pounding of gaza overnight and. particularly the targeting of governmental and police buildings and biggest police station was totally leveled causing structural damage to nearby buildings some of the biggest governmental structures in gaza city were targeted including the biggest civil service building here in gaza. in the southern area of the gaza strip was targeted heavily overnight particularly the smuggling tunnels which gazans called the survival smuggling tunnels were almost totally destroyed last night and continually being pounded with helicopters an f. sixteen s they were struck over sixteen times last night israel killed three media workers short had journalists two of them a cameraman for the t.v. channel another for the educational television channel and israel has admitted that

it did deliberately target these civilians according to israel these stations that these media workers work for are not legitimate journalistic enterprises and therefore susceptible to being targeted any time gazans don't expect to see a cease fire today they hope to see a cease fire yesterday but they don't expect to see it any time soon they remember all too well the operation cast lead and what's happened in the last twenty four hours resembles increasingly. the reports of white phosphorus destroying off the bridge that connects middle north gaza with the south of gaza the isolation of the south of gaza increasingly resembling an escalation akin to that operation into two thousand and nine so israel is not winding down its assault on gaza while some israeli officials believe all those civilian deaths are justifiable collateral damage and see how an israeli defense ministry spokesman commented on the growing number of palestinian children dying on our website. the graphic

footage in gaza of dead children do you maintain that their deaths. of israeli israeli airstrikes are the fault of hamas. so i can tell you genuinely generally breaks my heart you think that we want to see dead children on any side who are in this predicament that however with the most strategically surgical precision pinpoint strikes when they're hiding beneath their civilian population there will be collateral damage. meanwhile hamas blames israel forestalling peace talks in cairo hopes that a cease fire agreements was a matter of hours were earlier aquash by israel's demand for more time to respond to proposals or brings us the details. the chances for ceasefire are increasingly elusive it's a far cry today wednesday what we witnessed from late tuesday when we were hearing that a cease fire was imminent at that stage a key hamas spokesperson said that the announcement would be made but now what

we're hearing from hamas is that israel is to blame for delaying the whole process and thus essentially says that israel has not yet responded to proposals put forward on the table television however for its side says that the draft agreement is too much tilted towards the gazans it also says it wants to see a twenty four hour lull in fighting that would give it some kind of indication as to the sincerity of the gazans to actually enforce such a cease fire now it's strange because you have all these discussions around a cease fire but on the ground you have a very different situation so at this stage it is still possible that a ground operation could be called on we in fact are hearing from the israeli foreign minister avigdor lieberman he has said and i'm quote quoting that calls from the international community to refer in from a ground operation only strengthen hamas and extend the conflict is a lot of questions being asked particularly over the united nations which has been quiet for the better part of the last week in fact it hasn't issued any kind of

statements since this conflict started and this is allegedly because it did not want to interfere with efforts by both the arab league and cairo to try and hash out some kind of cease fire if there is no ceasefire that is agreed to by the software and wednesday we're being told that the u.n. security council will hold an open debate and that this debate will address the whole issue of what to do and what is happening here on the ground u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is in the region she's already met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and she's on her way to cairo where she'll meet with the egyptian president as well as the arab league foreign ministers but she certainly hasn't india herself to the gazans because already she has stated quite clearly that it is role that has the support of the united states in fact the word she used was that they give them rock solid. supports of course this is going down with the israeli public but it's been received very differently from those living in gaza. while washington's almost unflinching support for israel is raising doubts

that mission isn't taken upon it's taken upon itself will bring biased results plus america's track record in selecting where to push for peace and protect civilians in helping as i can now explains the crisis in the middle east probably like no other crisis reveals the double speak of u.s. foreign policy the u.s. basically gave green light to any of their actions with regards to palestinians and israel has been taking advantage of that quite extensively because as president obama explained there is no country on earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders makes complete sense nobody sir but one may ask what about all those countries that the u.s. has bombed. them pakistan yemen and others or is it that when you refer to civilian deaths the collateral graham next one hundred thirty three million sounds you know or just by when it comes to the down the situation you usually hear u.s.

officials speak along these lines of course in a conflict like this civilian casualties are inevitable but the good life is not always like that when the government was killing civilians the u.s. school to sympathize with the innocents there in most graphic terms but it appears in washington sympathy for suffering can be selected this is hillary clinton on syria the shooting death of a one year old recently by the syrian regime is tanks and troops. is a very stark example of what is going on. one may ask what about those horrible shots of children dying gaza is somehow less stark example of what's going on it seems america's world police mindset and standing up for the weak thing doesn't apply to problems instead we hear the same mantra from u.s. officials that israel has the right to defend itself which effectively implies that in the eyes of washington the killing of civilians in gaza is just too far the us

has most recently blocked the un security council statement calling for a cease fire in the israeli gaza conflict deeming the statement unbalanced against israel just goes the us has blocked all other palestinian related un resolutions in the past whether it was on israel continuing to build settlements on occupied territories or other initiatives put forward to ease the years long suppression of the people there by blocking all efforts of the international community to mediate a solution in washington tribute to the status quo under status quo here is that the root causes of the crisis have not been addressed and is the root causes remain any ceasefire looks temporary there was a major israeli assault on gaza four years ago to more than a thousand people did not solve the problem so one may argue the status quo almost guarantees that the cycle of violence will continue. gaza sentiment is growing was

in israel with some politicians going as far as calling for the area to be flattened like hiroshima israeli born political activist yuri horatia told us the country's rhetoric is becoming more cruel. we've seen. a good show on the son of the son of former prime minister ariel sharon in an opinion article in the jerusalem post calling for genocide i mean i you know i think it's on regis not just that he he wrote this article but you know the editor is not of of a distinguished newspaper and it's really albeit a you know unknown right wing newspaper but still and use the you know newspaper that is part of the mainstream allowed here to two areas such opinions people in rwanda people in the former yugoslavia were sent it to the hague you know after having every written words as cruel and inhumane as as as the ones that mr sharon has has written and i have to say it's not an individual politician here and

i'm very sad i'm ashamed to say that recent opinion polls were published in israeli newspapers i believe it recently have shown that nearly ninety percent of the populace. in the country support this operation and support but it is considered by many to be collateral damage. of get the killings of children and women and the elderly. violence on the ground and diplomatic wrangles are not the only battlefields in the middle east they're also online and they're proving decisive explains the latest military conflict in the gaza strip may go down in history as the first war ever declared on twitter the official account of the israeli defense force announced the start of the pillar of defense operation and one of the us literally told the enemy to run and hide but later hamas had their say using

similar war rhetoric. this exchange has been retreated thousands of times since and numbers do matter on twitter through hits likes replies and retreats more people than ever before turn to social media and the question is who is winning this online warfare and numbers speak for themselves according to the hashtags dot org website the guards are under attack crash tag is ten times more popular than israel under fire pray for gaza is twenty times more popular than pray for israel and gaza hash tag is almost twice as popular as israel in a nutshell this is the battle between a heavily funded state propaganda machine and citizen journalism from the outside looking israel's content is better produced more powerful shiny and glossy take these banners for instance which were posted on i.d.'s official facebook page how mars has also been manning the information war trenches some say clumsily as these tweets may suggest but the effect of social media boom among young palestinian

activists in changing public perception of the palestinian israeli conflict has been huge youngers the residents regularly rushed to hospitals and take and upload photos and videos of tragedy and inhumanity and some of the pictures have become symbolic of israel's disproportionate use of force the graphic and vocal message in those tweets is perhaps the reason why palestinian citizen journalism is proving more effective and why israeli social networkers simply cannot compete with the content coming out of gaza where this first war started on twitter can become the first war lost on twitter is a question but one conclusion seems evident enough israel has not grasped the destructive power of social media as tightly as it's holding the people of gaza in its grip. well still ahead for you this hour avoiding past mistakes syria's opposition coalition is one step away from full recognition by the u.s. and the e.u. as they wait and see the blog deserves complete backing. out as u.k.

families struggle to feed their homes there is cold comfort from power giants still creaming profits from soaring energy bills all that and more after a short break. wealthy

british scientists on. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred global financial headlines kaiser reports on our. blog we have. groups. all. right you know. that wasn't. the smadi when i was. you can. certainly can't do it

through the barrel of a gun only effective social changes can be the afghans themselves afghan men and women. cannot cross. but. it's up to the shop and. stuff people in the obama administration talking about how much they care about the women of afghanistan it's not true they don't care about the women of afghanistan.

hello welcome back to watching r t l leaders of one of syria's largest athlete minorities have rejected the rebel coalition and a sign of the seemingly intractable split among us of fighters the kurds describe the western backed you know the group as a foreign proxy a little earlier islamist rebel factions also slammed the foreign based walk and you know laterally declared an islamic state in the city of aleppo the spine of

these divisions the opposition coalition is getting more recognition from western countries as the sole legitimate voice of all syrians the u.k. is the latest e.u. country to give its full endorsement but peace activists john raise questions how much support the west moves has was in syria. many of the people on the ground low coordinating committees have never liked the business of western intervention they've made it a point in their statements in their press releases and the things that they've said that they don't like that they don't think they're genuine revolution can come by the bar the western assistance and certainly but ministers and so i think there are very very many people in the crowd to want represented here but the danger is as we saw in iraq and in other places only representative groups once they get the support of the west can come to dominate large numbers of people on the ground. now take a look at some other stories from around the world the u.n. security council has unanimously decided to sanction armed rebels in the democratic republic of congo whose fighters have easily captured the resource rich eastern

city of goma the m twenty three group formed after accusing congo flouting the peace agreed after a decade of conflict with neighboring rwanda where it saw up to five million people died but the un statement failed to mention rwanda or uganda which congo claim support the rebels. two suicide bombers have struck a u.s. base in afghanistan's capital killing two guards the attackers apparently tried to reach the gate but nato the are devices one police spotted them reports blame the taliban for the assault couples trying to beef up the city's security ahead of a holy day this week. india has executed the lone surviving gunmen from the two thousand and eight terror attack on mumbai. pakistani citizen was one of ten gunmen who laid siege to india's financial capital four years ago killing one hundred sixty six people. on wednesday morning after india's

president rejected he's pleading for mercy. in the u.k. millions are said to be left in the cold this winter as cash strapped families struggle to pay gas and electricity bills as laura smith reports there is little comfort from the energy giants where the race for profit and full sway. it's a bitter winter's day in london and inside this plot it's not much warmer single mother of four julie has only one thing on her mind as the cold bites how is she going to pay her ever rising energy bill i decided to take fewer libel. and i only use one in my. kitchen and my you just one trying to cut down. off the bill next time but in regard to bill. we spoke to julie last winter when she was already struggling and we've come back to see how she'll face is even

bigger challenge five of the six big energy companies have announced price rises of around ten percent according to use which whose business it is to help people reduce their bills it will drive more into an increasingly common form of poverty fuel poverty is where you spend more than ten percent of your net income on your energy bills and we've seen these recent price increases pushed three hundred fourteen founds and people into fuel poverty that's on top of an estimated seven million people. one survey ahead of this winter found energy prices were the biggest concern for consumers ninety percent said the cost of energy was their main household worry ahead of rising costs for food petrol and mortgage payment julie shows me her energy bills carefully conserve to chart the inexorable rise

since she moved in in two thousand and seven she's afraid that this winter her children's health will suffer again in a week i went accomplice a here's a blanket his socks and the children just put it on the movie we call two thousand and ten two thousand and eleven there were sick because. to be mean. while julie's children are getting sick the energy companies a profiting british gas whose prices are up six percent is on track to make one point four billion pounds in profits this year and e.t.f. with the highest price rise of ten point eight percent announced profits of one point six billion in february where are you going to find the extra ten percent that's going to go in your bill from them but what i don't know. london and my hands me is also a major headache for an increasing number of people in greens because there is

a little relieved on the horizon for the proposed cut of twenty two thousand more jobs put down to stay by the i.m.f. so i had to r.t. dot com for the whole story. plus they're going all is sure to draw attention by staging a provocative protest and earn several feminist activist some unwelcome attention on french protestors. and in just a few minutes while it's against women in afghanistan and futile foreign attempts to stop it. it's perched atop a jaw drop under view from the kremlin stretches as far as the all i can see up for a city that chilled all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed but a chance i bear in railway but the

a spiritual center. seems like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of orthodox worshippers implicity water to commemorate the baptism of jesus. it doesn't matter if it's minus thirty it's a siberian tradition i do it myself every year for everyone to overcome their worst fears it is desirable to take the plunge. but that's picture postcard churches the story of a city built by opportunist explorers political exiles and crafty fur traders. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from

the muslim. surrounded by enemies to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub siberian fire was the oil of its time bringing in a third of all russia's state revenue but the location head of the says for the russians are. to moscow as one of the most popular places to send political dissent is not any people were exiled that once a giant bell that was used to incite riots was supposed to set a three hundred ten. the russian heiress across who led a revolt against an eight hundred twenty five known as the decemberists will stand there and drove. there they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia. but the city also serves up some bit of irony for the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution. this is the

office was nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled here they were at a fairly comfortable existence this was a big house but they weren't allowed to see visitors or gartside themselves whilst leaving this ordinary normal countryside lifestyle they even had thoughts of escape but within the year bizarre and his family would be dead. never again its political significance but the streets will always echo with glories past undoubtable like you provide the livelihood force inhabitants in the future. do we speak your language any time of the war not at the. news programs and

documentaries and spanish what matters to you breaking news a little turn it into angles couldn't stories. for you here. in troy spanish find out more visit i. partied or to comb. it in sorrow. and hope for escape. barely surviving longing for a godsend. they live in a search for gold. why doesn't it bring them wealth.

thing as he knew. to. you to. you. to. you to you to. to. go at it to. to. you. we see. many. wives who have been.

who want to leave their abusive husband there is one story that was the worst story which is a girl who had been told off by her family and she was beaten by the older man who she was forced to marry and she tried to escape and they caught her and brought her back and because she had tried to escape she had to be punished her husband then cut off and cut off her nose there reason is that it's a big example. that one should not be housed without house burnt out and also to be sure i'll tell you a story of a young woman i met i find inspiring i'm not going to promise a happy outcome but at least it was an inspiring story she was a young woman who was forced into marriage in a very conception part of the country in the south east.